Learning to Tell Time…Who Knew It Was A Game

Posted on October 02nd, 2009 in Uncategorized

Overheard (that is if you are a fly on my bedroom wall – and please tell me you are not, but you get the idea). And, one more thing, I’ve written before about this briefly but have you seen this chairs? Since it appears that I am going to be doing more actual work by the way of sitting at a desk, I’m thinking I need one of these bad boys….the Embody Chair doesn’t that just sound awesome?

Mom: zZzzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

1st grader: Mom, it’s time to go to school

Mom: zZzzzzz WHAT? *feet hit the floor running*

1st grader: I set my clock to get me up and now I’m ready to go to school, come on.

Mom: *staggering to the fridge for a soda* What time is it?

1st grader: 6:45

Mom: *stopping dead in her tracks* WHAT?

1st grader: I’m ready.

Mom: I’m not. We get up at 6:45, we do not leave home at 6:45. Okay? 1st grader: Ok.

Mom: zzzZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzz 1st grader: Mom…..Mom….MOOOOOOOOOOM Mom: WHAT? zzzzzzzzzzz

1st grader: I know it’s Saturday and we don’t have school on Saturday but if it were Saturday it would be time to get up. See? I set my clock for 6:45 just like you said. I’m going back to bed.

Mom: zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz What just happened here?

This is so not cool.

So, we had to make it a rule that I set the clock and I set the alarm and he only gets up with the chickens on school days. I do not need to know that it is time to get up IF it were a school day. We needed a better way.

Enter, Time Tracker!

I set his clock and I turn on his alarm. He gets up and his Time Tracker is preset so that he knows we leave home in 30 minutes. Some mornings I get up because I wake up and other mornings? I play the role of the bad parent and I simply get up early enough to put some pants on and grab breakfast money and my keys. We live 5 miles from school. He wants to eat breakfast at school and honestly, who wouldn’t? For the cost of one dollar, he is getting pancakes, gravy and biscuits, eggs, etc. You name it, they have it. If he eats at home, he is getting cold cereal because….I’m a bad parent that way. No, honestly, I can barely function at that time of the morning and I can barely cook. Combining those two variables is simply not a good idea. Who can argue?

The Time Tracker is also used for brushing teeth because apparently they think that swish swish is the right amount of time. So, we set the time for 5 minutes. One kid brushes until the time indicates that it is at the 50% mark and then the other kid brushes til the timer goes off. This little guy (the Time Tracker, yes I’m referring to it as a person) is very cool with time. He tells the kids how much time they have remaining verbally but also with the use of the red, yellow and green lights.

And, if you prefer not to get up with the chickens and you need to help your kids learn to manage time “5 minutes til dinner, go wash up” or “15 minutes til bedtime” or “you must clean for 10 minutes in that pig sty of a room”…oh wait, ya’ll are good parents, I forgot.

Anyway, the best part of this little gem is that one of you guys will be getting one too! No, really, you get to enter to win one! And, we are following the new contest design for the second month now. I had a guest poster on October 1st so we are starting this contest at 12:00 AM on October 2, 2009 and it ends at midnight on October 10, 2009.

I know it hardly seems fair but we are going to have to continue to stick with shipping to the continental United States and Canada. All other contest rules and disclaimers still apply.

By the way, if you don’t win one, these guys are really inexpensive ways to save your sanity! Contests will begin on the 1st and the 15th and end on the 10th and the 25th unless otherwise requested by a sponsor and will be noted in the contest post.

Mandatory Entry:

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